A hard-fought draw with Essex has kept Surrey just ten points off the pace in Rothesay County Championship Division One.

Two wins from the opening seven matches – half the four-day programme – are a thin harvest compared with recent seasons, when Rory Burns' side claimed a hat-trick of titles. Both those successes came on home ground at the Kia Oval, against Somerset and Yorkshire, with matches against Hampshire and now Essex ending in stalemates.

Tied in with three more draws on the road, it has proved a testing campaign in an unusually dry start to the season for a team reliant on their seam attack and increasingly exposed by not possessing a frontline spinner.

Despite that, though, Surrey remain among the leaders in a title fight promising to be the most open and unpredictable for several years. Frontrunners Nottinghamshire are ten points in front while lurking ten behind are Sussex, with Warwickshire and Somerset in close pursuit.

Much of the final day of the Essex match was spent battling for survival after being set an unlikely 418, Sam Curran’s 77 leading the way in his second major contribution to the match. The visitors were frustrated by a series of rain delays as they pressed for victory. It meant Surrey took 12 points to their opponents’ 11, head coach Gareth Batty commenting: “We are ten points behind Notts and in second place – we are pretty happy with that position as we are nicely bubbling away without really putting in the best collective performances.”

Surrey’s six-pronged seam attack had conditions in their favour on the opening day, after Burns had won the toss, but dropping Michael Pepper on nine proved expensive as the wicketkeeper went on to make 75 out of 217. New Zealand all-rounder Nathan Smith claimed three for 53, with two wickets apiece for Curran and Jamie Overton, both making their first Championship appearances of the season after spending the early weeks of the season playing in the Indian Premier League.

The hosts looked set for a large lead while opener Dom Sibley and Australian left-hander Kurtis Patterson (51) paved the way for Curran to crack a typically enterprising 70 from 83 balls. That helped to rescue them after sliding to 144 for seven, adding 82 with the aggressive Jordan Clark (54), but Kasun Rajitha’s five for 87 and Simon Harmer (two for 14) restricted Surrey to 279 all out.

The match was turned, though, by Paul Walter (118) and Dean Elgar (64) adding 188 for Essex’s first wicket and their control of the match was confirmed by 20-year-old Charlie Allison cracking a superb 140. His sixth-wicket alliance of 116 with Noah Thain (50) ensured the visitors amassed 479 and left Surrey facing a mighty chase.

They were given a solid start by Burns (39), Sibley (40) and Patterson (40) but seamer Jamie Porter (five for 88) and off-spinner Harmer (two for 94) made regular breakthroughs, the former inflicting a pair on Jason Roy. Overton’s 47 averted any chance of defeat, to finish 289 for seven.

The Championship campaign now goes on to the backburner – Surrey's next match is against Worcestershire at New Road on June 22 – to concentrate on the Vitality T20 Blast, which starts with a tricky trip to play Somerset at Taunton on Friday.

By Richard Spiller